the noise – john foxx

Writing dialogue comes pretty easily. I believe I have a good ear for it and I’m aware that, when I’m around my fellow man, I’m constantly recording.

Scanning for new words, for new alloys of words, neologisms, words from languages other than whatever it is I speak, words shaken loose from the military, industrial, scientific communities or popular culture.

I think this feeds into the dialogue I spew out. both from my face and through my fingers.

Descriptive passages I find harder. I have next-to-no sense of smell and I’ve long been aware I take in more information aurally than I do visually. back in the eighties, I could tell what label a given song was on, just by listening to it.

It’s not magic, it just appears so. in those days, memory was expensive, so recording studios used the same samples time and again.

These same studios had deals with record labels. all the artists on a given label would work in the same studio. this meant the label had lower (bulk) recording costs and the studio had a constant stream of work.

As I say, it isny magic. the samples told me where it was recorded and the group’s sound told you what label it was on.

That’s how good my ears were, back-in-the-day.

But ask me what’s different about how you look and I’m flummoxed. I start guessing: are those shoes new? You’ve had a haircut? You’re wearing a gas mask? Christ knows.